Thanks to the Eagles taking them minutes apart in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, the cornerbacks from Kansas and Kansas State, respectively, are heading to Philadelphia. This, after the Eagles traded their fourth-round pick to the Detroit Lions for the Lions' third-round pick next season.

The night before the team unloaded both of its fifth-round picks in a trade with Miami to move up in the second round and pick cornerback Eric Rowe of Utah.

So if you were keeping score at home, that's three cornerbacks in four picks from rounds 2-6.

Finally, with their lone seventh-round pick, the Eagles stayed on the defensive side and selected giant Boston College defensive end Brian Mihalik, who goes 6-foot-9 and weighs a little over 300 pounds.

Although Shepherd is not very big (5-11, 200) and not very fast (4.65 in the 40-yard dash), his ball skills and production obviously were enough to sway coach Chip Kelly and his personnel staff. Shepherd had 32 passes defensed and five interceptions over the last two seasons.

Evans, on the other hand, is a little taller (6-0, 190) and a little quicker (4.44 in the 40), but with similar ball skills.

Their additions were part of a master plan, Kelly admitted shortly after the picks, to beef up the inside linebacker and secondary positions.

"And when your needs match the board, that's when you're in good shape," Kelly said. "When your need crosses that talent line where you're pushing a guy … I think, fortunately for us, in terms of what we really needed to fix, I look at running back. This was an outstanding draft for running backs. But we didn't have to go take a running back because of what we did in free agency.

"As we looked at it, there was no one here that we thought, like 'let's push him up [the board] into this round, let's select him because it's at a need position.'"

Phase II of h is plan will be to throw all of them out on the field as soon as possible and allow the better men to win.

Mihalik, like everyone else drafted by the Eagles this year, simply was the highest-rated athlete on the board by the time they were due to pick at 237 overall, according to Kelly. That Mihalik fit into Kelly's admitted master plan to beef up the defense, particularly at inside linebacker and the secondary, was all the better. The Eagles wound up using all of their picks except one on defensive players.

"We had a priority of doing a better job in terms of depth at inside linebacker and getting guys to play in the secondary," Kelly said, "So that's what we're looking at right now. … What we're going to get is, if you look at the history, and I've studied the history here, they haven't drafted a lot of DBs in the last 10 years, and there's a thing.

"We need to develop those guys and try not to rely on free agency to go out and get those guys. We had to because of the situation we were in, but we hope to continue to get defensive backs through the draft and develop them."

Shepherd is a converted wide receiver who believes the time he spent on offense gives him an advantage.

"It helps me a lot," he said. "I think it helps me tremendously. My ball skills at receiver were pretty good, so going over, that was one thing I was confident in. When I did move, I was not worried about my ball skills down the field. It was just getting used to backpedaling and having to cover instead of getting myself open."

As a senior, he led the Big 12 and ranked third nationally with 19 passes defensed and led the Jayhawks with three interceptions.

Shepherd also is a kickoff return candidate who accumulated 1,350 yards on 63 career attempts.

Evans is a former walk-on who went on to start 31 games. As a senior, he led the team with four interceptions and 14 passes defensed while finishing third on the team with 64 tackles.

"You know, the unique thing about him is he's played safety, he's played nickel, he's played corner," Kelly said. "He's a physical player, He's an outstanding special-teams player. [Kansas State head coach] Bill Snyder, you're getting a Bill Snyder-coached football player.

"They love him in Manhattan in terms of what they say about him. We had real good exposure to him. He's a guy that we've had our eye on for a while just because of not only his athletic ability but his position versatility. So he's a guy that we were excited that he was still there."

Mihalik operated in a 4-3 defense that didn't play to all his skills, Kelly said.

For that reason, he is looking forward to tossing Mihalik into the Eagles' base 3-4 as a two-gap end.

"I think playing in the two-gap scheme like Philadelphia plays, you look for taller ends," Mihalik said. "I'm able to use my length pretty well when I can get guys extended. The only drawback is making sure I'm playing well, playing with a good base and staying balanced with stuff like that."

After the draft, the Eagles began finalizing deals with undrafted rookies, including 2010 Freedom graduate Mike Coccia, an offensive lineman from Kelly's alma mater, New Hampshire.

Among the others reportedly heading to Philadelphia, based on various reports, are Delaware Valley University wide receiver Rasheed Bailey, UNLV tackle Brett Boyko and Purdue running back Raheem Mostert.